Hyderabad: In a significant victory for contract workers, the Telangana high court has upheld the orders directing Air India to pay gratuity benefits to 13 workers engaged through a contractor at its central training establishment in Ferozguda, Secunderabad.A division bench comprising Justices Challa Kodanda Ram and Nagesh Bheemapaka dismissed a batch of writ petitions filed by Air India challenging the rulings of the Controlling Authority and the Appellate Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act. Both authorities had held Air India liable as a ‘model employer’ for the workers engaged in its facility.Air India contended that the workers were employed under a works contract through a third-party firm—MKR Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Works—and not through a manpower supply arrangement, and hence were not eligible for gratuity benefits. The airline sought to quash the 2018 orders of the Appellate Authority.The workers had filed claims asserting that, although formally employed by the contractor, their services were rendered exclusively for Air India, thereby entitling them to gratuity under the Act.Air India, however, argued that it had merely awarded a time-bound contract to the contractor, with no direct employer-employee relationship with the workers. The airline maintained that it only had a limited supervisory role as per the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act and bore no obligation to extend gratuity or other service benefits.Rejecting this contention, the high court emphasised that Air India, as a public sector undertaking, is expected to uphold constitutional values, including the dignity of labour. The court held that gratuity, being a social welfare benefit, should not be denied on technical grounds, particularly when the workers had rendered long and continuous service at the establishment.Accordingly, the court upheld the authorities’ findings and dismissed Air India’s petitions, directing the airline to pay the gratuity dues to the 13 contract workers.
